1. Field of the Disclosure
The present application relates generally to flexible display devices and to computing devices with such a display. More particularly, the present invention pertains to stationary flexible display devices and to stationary and portable flexible computing devices with at least one flexible display screen and at least a three-dimensional sensor as well as flexible display devices
2. Description of the Related Art
People are using various types of devices with display devices having various dimensions, such as a television set, a stationary computer system, and a mobile computer system, to view content for various personal and professional reasons. The typical display device of such devices has a flat screen and is either a vertically standing display, a horizontally lying display, or a display held at an angle. But display devices are not bound to a flat shape. For example, one direction of technological development are display devices with flexible screens or/and combined vertical and horizontal screens.
Furthermore, for most people from many different disciplines a desk with a computer system is the main workspace. Such a typical computer workplace integrates horizontal and vertical surfaces into the workspace and encompasses one or more vertical displays showing digital content and a larger horizontal area containing input devices, such as a mouse and a keyboard, a paper-based document, and everyday objects. Also, touch recognition technologies have combined the advantages of traditional input metaphors with digital documents. For example, a tablet computer allows high precision stylus input for graphic design, a digital pen enables annotations on physical paper, and multi-touch gestures provide an intuitive way to transform and modify digital data.
Many systems have been proposed that use vertical and horizontal interactive surfaces within a single computer workplace. These systems provide a large interactive area and allow to move digital objects across multiple displays.
However, despite all the advantages these interfaces have barely found their way into everyday workspaces yet. Some reasons might be that these two areas are clearly separated, which makes it hard to move documents from one surface to the other, and that each area employs a different interaction technique. For example, we use a mouse for drawing on vertical displays but a physical pen to annotate a paper-based document. A workspace that allows continuous interaction between both areas. Moreover, these systems suffer from a lack of spatial continuity. Gaps between adjacent displays suggest isolated interactive areas, objects belonging together may be separated across gaps between display devices, and splitting objects across device borders impairs search accuracy and steering performance. Eventually, these setups limit the applicability of for example direct manipulation, as movement trajectories are interrupted when dragging a finger or pen from screen to screen.
Another direction of technological development related with computer workspaces are display devices, which combine the vertical and horizontal screens, like for example the so-called holobench or workbench as shown in FIG. 1. A holobench 100 is a semi-immersive projection display device for working in virtual reality environments, that is constructed by two screens 112, 114 put together in an L-shaped display providing one vertical backplane projection screen 114 and one horizontal backplane projection screen 112, and using the active stereo-projection mode for the rendering of stereoscopic images by the projectors 102, 104 beaming images over the mirrors 106, 108 on the screens 112, 114 to generate a three-dimensional impression for a user wearing shutter glasses. With the help of a position detecting and motion tracking system and a related control system the position, orientation, and movement of the user's head are captured and the perspective of the three-dimensional scene displayed with the holobench is altered by a rendering circuitry accordingly.
However, a problem with these display devices is that the horizontal and vertical screens are perceived as isolated areas and that by the L-shape edge a smooth, fluent transition of the displayed content cannot be realized between the vertical and horizontal screens.
As part of the research project “BendDesk” shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B a desk environment 200 has been presented that merges a vertical backplane projection screen 216 and a horizontal backplane projection screen 212 into one interactive workspace using a curved projection screen 214 between the vertical and horizontal screens. Two projectors 202, 204 for the graphical output and three two-dimensional cameras 222, 224, and 226 for the multi-touch input are used. The curved projection system provides a large multi-touch area 211 within the user's reach and allows uninterrupted, seamless dragging gestures across the entire display screen 211. This workspace can be used to display any digital content like documents, photos, or videos. The multi-touch technology allows the user to interact with the entire display screen 211 by direct manipulation and multi-touch gestures. Special care was also taken in relation with the ergonomics, so that users can comfortably sit at the desk environment and place everyday objects on it.
In the research project “Curve” similar ergonomics and design considerations for building a curved multi-touch table have been presented. The multi-touch table also consists of a vertical and a horizontal interactive screen seamlessly blended by a curved screen segment to bridge the gap between physical desks or tables and digital desktop environments.
As part of another research project “Mirage Table” the technologies of the curved desktop environment and the holobench have been integrated with a desk environment including a curved projection screen, a stereo projector device, a pair of shutter glasses, a stereo sync emitter, a range camera or depth camera respectively three-dimensional scanner device comprising an infrared projector and a camera, and employing a variant of image-based three-dimensional reconstruction to generate a related dense three-dimensional image of objects and individuals, and a special microchip to track the movement of these objects and individuals in three dimensions. The curved workbench also supports tangible interfaces.
But still not all problems have been solved with these curved display devices, and accordingly several areas of technical problems and general demands have been determined.
Firstly, the display devices respectively workspace environments lack of display quality. The applied backplane projection and frontplane projection technologies do not result in a high brightness compared to directly observed display devices. Also, the frontplane projection has the disadvantage that the user might get between the projector and the projection screen, so that parts of the projected image are projected on the user and not on the projection screen.
Secondly, solving the problem of an L-shaped display device with curved display devices leads to other problems. For example findings of the research project “BendDesk” showed that dragging across a curve is significantly slower than on flat surfaces, a smaller entrance angle when dragging across the curve yields in a longer average trajectory and a higher variance of trajectories across users, and the curved shape of the system impairs virtual aiming at targets. In addition, the proposed L-shaped and curved display devices either are based on multi-touch user interfaces or on three-dimensional display devices that need special glasses for viewing.
Thirdly, the display devices are large and unhandy. Flexible and particularly rollable visual display devices may be a solution to these problems, but then a flexible display device needs a housing, a frame, or some other means to keep its shape and to be foldable or rollable. Another solution is to have a portable variant of such a stationary display device with a related computer system arranged in a housing as well.
Fourthly, flexible devices need a sensor for a contactless user interface, a three-dimensional camera or a three-dimensional scanner device for detecting the position and orientation and tracking the motion of arbitrary objects and features of a user, such as a hand, a head, an eye, and another body feature, for capturing informations related with gestures for example, and for making three-dimensional images. Portable variants of such as display device may also have a sensor for tracking their own motion.
Furthermore, the combination of horizontal and vertical interactive surfaces has mostly been applied for displaying scientific data and computer generated models, and realizing collaborative workspaces, remote desk environments, and remote collaboration and communication systems. But there is still a demand for more functionalities and applications.